WASHINGTON, N.C. — A power outage caused local, mobile and long-distance phone service in parts of eastern North Carolina to go down, including 911 service in some areas.

A spokeswoman for Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, said the problem was a «power-related issue» affecting the 252 area code between Raleigh and Nags Head, Spokeswoman Kristin Wallace said she wasn’t sure how many customers were affected.

The emergency management director in Tyrrell County said phones, including 911 service, stopped working around 3 a.m. in all of Tyrrell and Washington counties. Williamston in Martin County was affected as well, officials said.

And emergency 911 service was out for about six hours, beginning at 3:30 a.m., in Chowan, Perquimans and Pasquotank counties.

[ read more ]

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — MCI (MCI), one of the nation’s biggest long-distance operators, lost $3.4 billion in the third quarter because of a previously announced asset writedown of $3.5 billion, the company announced Thursday, but its core operating results were better than expected.

Excluding the one-time charge, the company posted a profit of $121 million, or 16 cents a share, for the July-September quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had predicted a profit of 5 cents a share.

The company lost $55 million in the period a year ago when it was in bankruptcy and was known as WorldCom.

Quarterly revenue dropped 15% to $5.08 billion, but costs from continuing operations fell 16% to $4.46 billion.

[ read more ]

Telstra has released details on its trial to extend the limitations of current ADSL technology.

As previously reported on Whirlpool, applicants that applied to Telstra for ADSL but were unsuccessful may be invited to take part. The trial will end on January 31st, and is open by invitation only.

[ read more ]